


Murdered by War

by Freekill22



Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: F/M, Revenge
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-06-30
Updated: 2016-08-30
Packaged: 2018-04-07 01:01:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 17
Words: 16,979
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4243482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Freekill22/pseuds/Freekill22
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tyler sets off for revenge and meets new people as his wife is killed as a tribute to joining a mob family...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Murder in Hot Blood

He sat down on his brown hollowed out log and buried his head into his callous ridden hands and wept. He realized how ridiculous he looked but he didn't care, half the people around the wastes would have assumed killed him out of principle more than making fun anyway.   
After about an hour of tear-jerking silence, he reflected on the event. He reached down, letting his tears fall, and tended to the crimson stain on his shirt. The bullet wound. He received it ill-fatedly when he tried to save his beloved wife Mary, less than a week ago. The raiders crept up from behind Tyler and Mary and struck him with a pipe. Tyler had come to, and drowsily opened his eyes. He realized that the raiders had bound him up. He assumed that the raiders were actually legionary slavers coming for his wife, who in fact would catch a pretty penny. As Tyler was about to speak and beg them to leave her with him, to give take his money, a raider that Tyler had not noticed before stepped up. The man, wearing a dingy white, pin-striped suit, reached into his left breast pocket. Tyler saw the shine of the revolver the man pulled out, just as he pressed it snug against the back of Mary's head. Tyler tried to call out, but his voice failed him. All Tyler could do was watch in agony as the man pulled back the hammer, and then squeezed the trigger. After his wife's body slumped in a pool of blood, the man moved straight for Tyler, who tried to crawl away with all his remaining strength. The man just pressed the revolver to Tyler's stomach and shot.  
Tyler had awoken the next day in a pool of his own crimson blood, his wife's body nowhere to be seen. He decided at that point that no matter what, he was determined to find the suited man and end his life. And after that the days seemed to drift into and out of his consciousness.   
After what Tyler assumed was a couple days, he heard a faint sound. He tried his hardest to turn and look, but his wounds only allowed so much leeway. As he tried, struggled, and failed to turn, a voice rang out from behind him, “Get your ass up and give me all the caps you have before I blow your brains out.” The voice was female. Tyler tried once again to get up, but couldn’t find the strength. Suddenly he reeled as he felt a boot jab into his back. Tyler became furious, but still couldn’t rise to face the interloper. Then he heard the boots move once again, but they didn’t strike him. Instead, they moved right in front of him. The woman got on one knee and examined Tyler closely. “That’s why you haven’t gotten up…” the woman lightly touched his bullet wound, “You already got yourself a hole in ya.” The thief moved to the log and sat down exhaustedly. “Are you fit to talk yet?” Tyler opened his mouth but nothing came out. He attempted his best to sit up, but eventually the pain overcame him and he slowly shut his eyes and gave way to unconsciousness.


	2. New Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler wakes up after having been shot.

Tyler’s eyes slowly opened, crusty settled dust falling off of them, and he winced as he attempted to see his surroundings. Slowly familiar shapes began to make themselves known to Tyler’s subconscious. He made out three figures, although he couldn’t see any detail in them. He realized he was indoors, as he made out a ceiling above him. As he tried to move he felt a bed underneath him, as well as a pillow.   
Soon enough Tyler’s eyesight came back to him, and he could see the details of his visitors. There were two males and a female. The first male was an older man, he looked to be in his late fifties or early sixties and had balding, gray, almost white, hair. The old man was wearing a dark field hand’s outfit and moved with a slight limp. The second man was much younger, he had softer features and had brownish hair, cut short to his head. The younger man was wearing a vault jumpsuit and had something very peculiar on his left wrist that Tyler had never seen before. Finally, Tyler’s eyes came to the female. He noticed immediately the way she was standing and moving, it was like she either didn’t want to be there or just didn’t enjoy her present company. The girl had a lot of hair that was all a sort of chestnut color, with blondish tips. She had on a full suit of leather armor, that didn’t reveal her physique, or her curves, had Tyler even thought or wanted to look.  
Tyler sat and watched the three talk for what seemed an eternity, before someone finally said something loud enough for him to hear it. The girl stood up in the older man’s face and yelled. Tyler couldn’t quite make it out but he could by the voice that she was, in fact, the girl he had heard before he passed out. The woman stormed out the door of the building and slammed it hard behind her, obviously furious. The old man’s face grew very red as he walked over towards Tyler, a gimp in his step. As the man grew closer he noticed that Tyler was awake. The red on his face lifted and he even cracked a smile.   
“Six! Six, come here!” the old man hollered with a slight country drawl as he motioned for the younger man to come over.  
“Doc, you really need to stop calling me that, my name is…” Six’s voice trailed off as he realized what the old man had been all worked up about.  
The doctor looked at Tyler with care in his eyes. Tyler attempted to move but couldn’t get up, for Doc had a hand on his chest. “Why don’t you relax a second? Get your bearings. Let’s see what the damage is.” He slowly went over Tyler’s bullet wound, which was already stitched closed, and felt on different parts to get a reaction. Tyler continuously winced at each touch. “Yes I know it hurts son, but it’ll be tender for a few days.” He finished evaluating Tyler’s stomach and then asked, “What’s your name son?”  
Tyler assumed he still couldn’t talk, but the couple days of rest and rehabilitation had done wonders for him. He opened his mouth and said proudly, “The name’s Tyler.”  
The doctor curled his face, “That’s not the name I’d have picked for ya, but if that’s your name, then that’s your name.”  
“Do you tell everyone that nonsense Doc?” Six said as he looked at the doctor peculiarly and fumbled around on his wrist device.  
The doctor ignored his comment and held his hand out to Tyler. “Excuse my friend here, my name is Doc Mitchell. As you probably have already guessed, I’m the doctor around these parts.”  
Tyler looked the man up and down, before extending his hand to meet the doctor’s. He shook and released his hand. He sat up, with relatively less pain than before, and looked at the men. “How’d I get here?”


	3. Lucky Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler finally realizes how he arrives in the doctor's house.

“Well son, you got shot, that much I’m sure you probably already know.”  
“I know that, I mean how did I get from out near Nipton all the way to…” Tyler paused and looked around, trying to find an indication of the town he was in, “where am I?”  
“You’re in Goodsprings! Not exactly the welcoming visit we wished you’d had, but you’re here and alive ain’t ya?” the Doctor said with a sarcastic tone, as the younger man put a hand on his shoulder and shook his head, obviously warning Doc.  
“Yeah I am alive but do you see my wife anywhere!?” Tyler furiously looked around and then set his gaze on the doctor. “No? Well that’s probably cause she’s dead! Half this blood on me isn’t even mine!” He quickly went from furious to completely entrenched by sadness, beginning to sob and cover his face.  
Mitchell’s jaw dropped, obviously not knowing what to do. After a second of silence Six moved his calloused hand from the doctor’s shoulder to Tyler’s. “Listen, I know you feel like it should’ve been you right now, but trust me, you were saved for a reason.” Six began to squeeze lightly. “Doc wouldn’t have wasted his time and equipment on you if he didn’t want you alive, and on top of that you’re even luckier than anyone I’ve ever met.”  
Tyler’s tears began to slowly cease. “Why am I so lucky?” he asked, looking at Six with wide, wet eyes.   
Six knelt down slowly beside the bed, his legs cracking and popping as he did so. He looked Tyler in the face and pointed at the brown, freshly repaired door. “Because Rachel wasted her own time on you…” Six turned his large brown eyes back to Tyler, meeting his blue ones. “She would normally loot someone and leave them to die. She’s one of those people that prefer the wastes and animals to towns and people. She has never brought someone back alive, you’re the first. Obviously she saw something special in you.”   
Tyler smiled lightly, unbeknownst to himself. “Hell...maybe I am lucky.” he quickly looked to the door and slowly stood up, the old bed creaking against his weight. “Where is she at? I need to talk to her...and and maybe she’ll help me find who did this to me…”  
Doc Mitchell put his hand slowly to signal Tyler to stop and calm down. “Before you go, we need to run a couple of tests to make sure your dogs are still barking.” the doctor helped Tyler to his feet and steadied him. “Okay, good. Now walk on over to that vigor tester machine over there. Easy now, it’s not a race.”  
Tyler walked to the machine with surprisingly little pain in his stomach region. He gripped the controls of the machine and it quickly spit out a results sheet with a couple of bells and whistles sounding. He quickly snatched the paper before either of the two men could and read it aloud, “SPECIAL…” Tyler squinted at the rest of the small print. “Strength: 5. Perception: 5. Endurance: 5. Charisma: 5. Intelligence: 5. Agility: 5…” Tyler looked at the doctor questioningly, furrowing his brows. “They are all normal…” his voice trailing off as he saw his final score, “Luck: 10”  
The doctor smiled widely and took the piece of paper. “Okay. If you’re ready to get yourself back out there and enjoy life, you are good to go.”  
Tyler stood up and walked towards the door, only to be stopped by the doctor once again. He looked at Mitchell with a questioning glance as the doctor handed him a revolver, full of .357 rounds. “Why are you giving me this?” he asked but quickly snatched the valuable pistol from the grasp of Mitchell.  
Six smiled and stepped in between the two. “It’s for when you get attacked. Not IF, WHEN.” Tyler quickly noted the fact that Six was carrying something folded up as well. Six slowly pushed his items towards Tyler, they clanked loudly as they dropped into his palm. Tyler shook them around and discovered quickly that they were bottlecaps.   
“T-thank you so much guys…” Tyler barely managed to choke out as he attached the money pouch to his belt, and as he tucked his new shining silver revolver into his holster. He opened the door and stepped out.  
“If you need anything son, just come on back or ask around to find where six is!” Doc Mitchell said as he waved and smiled, watching Tyler walk down the hill from his house to the Goodsprings saloon.


	4. "Oh. Her..."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler meets his savior for the first time

Tyler slowly wobbled, still trying to regain his strength, down the hill from Doc Mitchell’s house to the particularly close saloon. As he came up on the bar, he noticed the sign above, spelling out “Prospector Saloon” in what seemed like a calamity of mix-matched sign letters. Clumsily Tyler stumbled over the rather large step to the porch. As he regained his composure he heard a hearty laugh come from his left side. Tyler quickly recoiled, his hand brushing his waist as he moved with lightning fast reflexes. The man barely had time to react,and neither did Tyler, before the barrel of the revolver was pressed against his head.Tyler quickly realized his folly as he saw the man crying. He quickly put the gun away and looked at the man nervously.   
“I-i’m sorry. Just a bit jumpy lately…” and with that, he pushed through the door and into the dingy little saloon.  
As the door brushed past him and slammed, he saw the bartender leaning around the corner and motioning him over with a friendly wave and a cheery smile, a rarity in the wasteland. He quickly shuffled around the young woman standing near the door with her dog, obviously waiting on someone, and walked to the bar. Tyler leaned on his hard elbows to hold himself up on the cracked wooden bar, and smiled the best he knew how at the polite bartender. She looked like a slightly stocky, dark short-haired, woman in her mid-40s.  
“My name’s Trudy.” she said with a large smile and after a short silence speaking again, “You must be the one Doc Mitchell was patching up…” she inferred, obviously being tortured by the fact that Tyler wasn’t making conversation. “Hun, usually when folks ‘round here tell you their name, you comply with yours…”  
Tyler continued his smile but decided he had better talk before she got cross with him. “My name is Tyler, and yeah I’m the one the doc was patching up. I took a .357 to the stomach the other day.” Just as she began to open her mouth he cut her off. “Do you know where I can find that girl with the leather armor? I need to speak to her…”  
“Sunny? You passed her on the way in. Her and her dog Cheyenne. She is such a nice girl, she just needs a man…” she stopped and quickly looked him up and down, “...like you.”  
Tyler recoiled his head in confusion, giving a Trudy a look of confusion. “What…? That’s not even who I was talking about...I mean the girl that has the long brown hair with the blonde tips. You know her?” he said, persistent in his quest to find her.  
“Oh. Her…” Trudy said with a slight undertone of disgust. “She’s over there in the back, sitting at the poker table all by her lonesome. Why are you after her? Sunny is such a better marriage choice…”  
He raised his hand as to cut her off mid-sentence, and slowly raised himself off the bar. Tyler walked towards the back of the saloon and sure enough, there she was. Although, she looked a bit different. She still had her dirt covered suit of tight leather armor, but she was wearing a mask that covered the bottom half of her face. It was a black and gray skull mask that only left her eyes visible, which were now closed. She had her freshly cleaned combat boots propped up on the table and had herself tipped back in the chair.  
Tyler began to reach out and touch her shoulder to wake her up but quickly recoiled after realizing the large caravan shotgun the small girl was holding, her hand ready and willing on the trigger. One foul touch or startle and he would be just a splatter print on the wall. Much to his surprise and startlement she quickly spoke as he backed off.  
“Give me one reason not to blow you away.” she said, calm and collected while slowly opening her eyes.   
Tyler couldn’t think of what to say, he was choking and he knew it, but he couldn’t say anything with those piercing, beautiful, green eyes staring into his own and watching his soul. “I...I...uh... t-the only reason I have is that w-why would you want to kill me when you just saved my uh... life?”  
She quickly slammed the gun on the table, shaking everything in the vicinity, and stood up. Her boots also made a loud audible thump as they slammed down. “I thought that was you! I’d recognize that face anywhere, it looks like it’s been chewed and scarred by a baby deathclaw and then shit out!”   
Tyler wasn’t sure what the girl was getting at. “Trudy over there thought I was pretty attractive, thank you very much…”  
The girl who seemed very tough laughed loudly. “I didn’t mean you were ugly. T’was a joke! I also think you are quite attractive.” she smiled widely and then looked angry once again by putting her mask back up. “Now follow me. I’m going you a little something about surviving out there, and I’ll also explain some things for you.”  
Tyler nodded his head and rose to follow, but he was very confused. Had she just hit on him? Or was it just more of her humor?  
As the two began to exit the saloon Trudy yelled towards them. “Hey! Rachel get yer ass back here and pay for that drink!”  
Rachel popped her neck and let the shotgun swing sideways, almost crushing Tyler in the process. She quickly pulled the trigger and with a flash the gun fired buckshot through the air, exploding multiple bottles. The gun sent multiple patrons, including Trudy, running and diving for cover. Rachel just opened the door nonchalantly and motioned to Tyler to walk through. “After you…”


	5. Maybe he liked crazy...

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler and Rachel get their hands dirty for the first time.

Tyler followed the small, tough woman through the bar’s old wooden door and out into the dusty, cracked street. He continued right behind her until she stopped suddenly, turning, and in the process almost making the taller man run into her. Slowly she looked him up and down with her piercing green eyes. Tyler could tell she cracked a light smile by the way her eyebrow moved to tilt and the way her eyes softened, but quickly she about-faced and continued walking, her boots pressing tracks in the dirt.  
After a short time she spoke without hesitating in her gait. “What’s your height?”  
Tyler raised an eyebrow at this, which she caught out of the corner of her eye without turning around. “I’m 6’3 and a half...why?” he responded, still confused as to the point of the question.  
“Just wanted to know.” she answered, not even phased by his surprising height. “How old are you?”  
“I’m thirty-two. What does this have to do with what we’re doing? For that matter, what ARE we doing?” Tyler shot back, not understanding the point of her constant questioning.  
“Thirty-two? Hmm...pretty close to me actually. I’m thirty.” she said, strolling steadily along. “In relation to your other question, I’m taking you to learn how to defend yourself. Well actually, I’m going to take down a group of slavers that have been taking people against their will up here for about a week.” she answered, as she heard the sound of boots plant themselves still in the soil.  
Tyler stopped dead in his tracks. “Wait...why are you taking me then? I already know how to use a gun, I was vault security for multiple years. I can defend myself…”  
She quickly lunged at him, putting a soft finger against his lips. “Sh!” Rachel said as she looked around. Just then a legionary explorer, dressed in white football pads, a red hood and baseball cap and red dressings, sprang from the bush nearby them with a baseball bat, letting out a loud battle cry.  
The bat was expertly guided under Rachel’s legs, causing her to fall on her back and sending her shotgun scurrying into a nearby shrub. Just as Tyler began to unholster his .357 he felt a strong arm curl all the way around his throat and squeeze with a viper-like grip. He grabbed the arm and tried to pry it off to no avail, but he decided he wasn’t going down without a fight. Tyler grit his teeth into the man’s skin, tearing the flesh and drawing some blood, but the biggest advantage was the man dropping his hold of Tyler.   
He used the time he had to curl his arm, revolver in tow, and place the barrel under the man’s chin. The squeeze of the trigger to end his first kill’s life was not near as easy as Tyler had expected. As in slow motion, he saw the trigger pull back as far as possible, then the hammer slowly come forward and strike the primer charge of the chambered round. Lastly, he saw the man’s eyes roll back in his head as his large magnum projectile entered inside the man’s chin, obviously smashing his jaw bone and leaving a very distinct hole behind. After what seemed like an eternity the legionary’s head snapped back and his body stiffened, before dropping with a loud thud back to the dirt from whence he and his friend had seemed to materialize from nowhere.  
Tyler breathed a sigh of relief before he remembered that Rachel had been with him. With the snap of realization he looked over to see the other legionary standing over her with his baseball bat raised and ready to swing down on her head. Partly out of panic but mainly out of fear for his new friend, Tyler pulled the hammer back on the magnum and the pulled the trigger with lightning fast reflexes. The bullet as it was fired from the revolver took a clear and straight flight pattern, right through the leg of the attacker.   
The legionary let out a loud disgruntled cry of pain and turned towards Tyler, who in turned fired another bullet, except this time nothing happened. The magnum jammed and left Tyler vulnerable to the attacker. The legionary pulled out an odd shaped syringe and dug the tip in his leg. He pushed the plunger and yanked it out, dropping it on the ground, and slowly walked towards Tyler, baseball bat at the ready.  
Tyler got ready to fight, but as the legionary reared his bat backwards two hands wrapped themselves around his chin. Rachel quickly pulled and with the sleight of her hands, the attackers neck popped loudly and he collapsed under his own weight. She then walked past Tyler slowly, running her fatal hands across his cheek. Feeling him, before walking past and starting to loot the freshly deceased bodies. “I brought you for your sweet company,” she said, trying and failing to wink, instead moving her whole face. Tyler stood in shock and thought to himself that maybe she was crazy, and maybe he liked crazy…


	6. Kiss of the Omertas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel reveals part of her cryptic past to Tyler

After some time of searching the dead legionaries, Tyler came across an astounding object which was buried deep in the man he had killed’s pockets.  
“Rachel! Rachel look at this thing!” he yelled as he pulled out what was another syringe, much like the one that Rachel had killed had used, except this one had a long black rubber arm band with it and was much larger.   
Rachel’s jaw dropped when she saw the medicinal device. “That’s a super stimpack. T-those are extremely rare. I myself have found less than five of them my whole life…” she wrapped her hand around the mask that hid her mouth and slowly tugged it down, revealing her highly perplexed looking expression. “Wait…” she looked at the fresh bodies and then at the stimpack. “These aren’t legionaries…”  
“What do you mean they aren’t with the legion? They are wearing Caesar's mark and legion explorer outfits.” Tyler countered, wondering what the woman was getting at with her remarks.  
Rachel pointed at the super stimpack that he was still holding and spoke rather tensely at the fact they weren’t legion. “Caesar's Legion legionaries are one-hundred percent forbidden from using chems such as stimpacks, Med-X, Buffout, and stuff like that.” She then quickly wagged her finger at the dead body. “The punishment for disobeying the law is death by crucifixion…”  
“So then who the hell are these guys?” Tyler asked as Rachel began slowly and deliberately searching the pockets again. He joined her by starting to search the one that he had shot, again finding nothing. Suddenly Tyler had a stroke of genius. The man’s boots. He began untying the deceased man’s boots and quickly removed the boot, revealing a tattoo on his ankle, clearly spelling out for Tyler who the man had been working for.   
Rachel looked over after not hearing anything from her newly found companion. She slowly shuffled and crawled over to where Tyler was staring at the ankle blankly. Her face lit up when she saw the tattoo that clearly spelled out the word “OMERTA” in the all-too-familiar type that every wastelander was used to.   
“Well, it says Omerta...so I assume that’s who they were working for.” Tyler concluded from the obvious evidence. “What the hell is Omerta?” he asked with a look of extreme confusion, his eyes turning to Rachel.  
“I-i don’t know...I...uh...have never heard of them,” she lied, showing the lie very clearly to Tyler,who just assumed it was a past grievance of some sort.  
“Any idea why they’d possibly attack us? They seemed pretty hell-bent on killing us…” he asked, secretly wanting to prod deeper into Rachel’s background and learn what she was really all about in this endeavor.   
“I’m not entirely sure. Probably after our supplies, we have pretty rare items in the pack,” she mumbled as she pointed to her backpack and rose, with a loud cracking of her bones, into a squat position. She turned her green eyes to Tyler, who was still looking at the markings. In an effort to hurry him up, so he didn’t ask too many more questions on topics he shouldn’t yet know, she slapped a hand quickly at his thigh. Much to her embarrassment, her hand hit much higher and inside on his thigh then either party had been ready for.  
“L-let’s go,” she released very quickly before rising, turning, and tugging her mask quickly up over her blush ridden face. Tyler was soon to follow.  
Tyler quickly trotted up behind her and aggressively laid a hand on her shoulder, squeezing it and bringing her to a stop. Rachel turned rapidly, staring him dead in his blue eyes.  
“Where are you taking me and why? I need answers now, Rachel, or I’m turning around and going back to the nice folks at Goodsprings.” he said, his eyes remaining locked and actually staring harder than the piercing green ones.  
Rachel let out a deep sigh and looked off to the side at the nearby town of Primm, studying its casino and roller coaster for a couple seconds before returning to the young man.   
“Listen Tyler, not everything is exactly as you expect alright? I can’t explain it because you wouldn’t believe me...but I can show you,” she finished as she put her hands up between them and pushed off his chest, releasing herself from his grip.”I know the agency the man who killed your wife works for, I’m going to take you there with me and let you try and work all this out…”  
“That all sounds fine and dandy, but why would you come all this way for me?” he asked, with a hint of suspicion in his voice.  
She pulled her mask down below her lips and held it there a second before speaking. “You won’t understand right now, but I’m part of this too and you’re more special to me then you could possibly know at the time being…” As she finished her sentence her arms that were between them promptly grabbed hold of his shirt and pulled their faces together. Her lips locking his cheek and his whole body rapidly warming as a result. As soon as it began, Rachel released him and hurriedly pulled the mask above her lips and cheeks, once again blocking out the raging blush on her cheeks.  
Tyler’s eyes widened and his hands were sent in a quick grasping motion, trying to latch on his “attacker”, in an embrace. Then, as he regained his awareness he realized she was already well on her way to Primm, traveling at a very brisk pace. Tyler was now more confused than ever why he was here and what he was doing, but for once his mind was more on the figure moving in front of him and how much he wanted to stay by it.


	7. "Just hold me...please..."

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rachel and Tyler make their way to Primm for the night

Chapter 7  
As the duo hiked into the war-torn town of Primm an NCR Military Policeman came trotting up to them, a dingy yellow paper in his hand.   
“What the hell are you two doing here? Don’t you know that Primm is off limits?”  
“Yeah sure whatever. You really gonna try and stop me from going in there soldier boy?” Rachel barked back as she brushed passed him, obviously angering the young MP. As she got passed him he yanked his service rifle from his bandolier, pointing it at her back. The MP stood there ready to fire before his face quickly turned to one of sheer shock as he realized the cold magnum barrel jammed in his side.  
“I wouldn’t do it if I were you, buddy.” Tyler’s sneer curled into a cold-hearted smile. “You see, this girl you were just pointing your gun at with ill intent, well she is very important to me. Had you shot that bullet that’s chambered in your gun right there,” he patted the MP’s rifle with his free hand, “and it hit her, then I would’ve blow your little scrawny head off.” Tyler finished his threat and locked his leg around the MP’s, ripping him to the ground; he then used the heel of his shoe to stomp on and break the receiver of the rifle to pieces. Tyler looked back to see the young man crying on the ground, before running up to his companion’s side.  
“Did you kill him?”  
“No, I just made sure he wouldn’t be operating his gun anytime soon. We definitely don’t want the weight of murdering an NCR Officer on our backs right now…” Tyler explained. She nodded and led him to a blown-out section of an overpass that led to Primm. The two crouched and slowly inched over the boards that ended in the streets of the old gambling town. They expertly avoided two escaped convicts guarding the Buffalo Steve Hotel in the street and made it to the unlocked door of the Mojave Express courier service.  
The old cracked door creaked as Rachel opened it and quickly locked it, once Tyler arrived in the building. She slid across the counter and dropped down under it like a dog in search of a squirrel.   
“There something you are looking for in here?” Tyler asked as he made his way to the counter, following.  
“No. Not really. We’re just here mainly because there’s a bed and it’s getting dark outside…” She rose from behind the counter quickly with a spool of thread. The thread was hooked to a land mine, which she planted next to the door. “Don’t want anyone disturbing us,” she finished with a smirk that caught Tyler off guard; he began to feel his cheeks glisten with a hint of crimson.  
She beckoned him to the back room to which there was a bed, kitchen table, fridge, and a handful of chairs. Rachel looked at her watch. “It’s 8:45. Bed time.” she said aloud. Rachel dropped her small fire heater on the ground and quickly lit it with her engraved lighter, before she plopped her gear under the bed. Tyler walked to the opposite side of the room and sat himself down on an old emerald green dining chair, which creaked when he sat.   
Rachel shot Tyler a confused look which quickly turned to depression. She let out a quick sob before covering her eyes and beginning to, quite obviously, cry. Tyler’s eyes widened and he jumped up, walking over to her. He dropped to his knees at her side and held his hand over her arm to see her face.  
“What’s wrong, Rachel?” he asked, desperately trying to help his friend.   
“Nothing’s wrong!” she yelled, pushing him away and rolling on her opposite side; she began to sob loudly.   
“Please...I-I just want to help you. I can’t stand seeing people like this. Please, I’ll do anything to help…” Tyler quickly returned to the side of the bed to help her.  
“Lay with me…just hold me…please...” Rachel squeaked out before she rolled back to face him, tears rolling from the deep green eyes.”  
“But...I-I…” he knew he couldn’t deny the eyes. He had only been with this woman a day and she already had feelings for him? Would his wife be looking down from wherever she was disappointed? It didn’t matter. He couldn’t let Rachel lay there hurting. Tyler quickly stood up and crawled on the bed beside her, awkwardly laying beside her with his arms straight down.  
“Thank you so much ba…” Rachel stopped her sentence abruptly and suddenly wrapped her arms around the blonde man, laying her head on his shoulder.  
He shook violently at the warm feeling of the woman on him. Tyler wasn’t sure what was happening around him, but he was more worried about the fact that he loved it. Looking down he saw that her long beautiful hair was draped across his own chest. Tyler couldn’t resist her embrace and slowly wrapped an arm around her, the other arm began to brush through her hair.   
“Oh my god,” Rachel started “I’ve missed you so much...and you still twitch…” she tightened around him, trying to get even closer.  
“What are you talking about?” he asked. Tyler received no answer, as Rachel was already fast asleep. The warmth of the beautiful woman laying with him quickly made him drowsy, putting him under for the night


	8. Heart Troubles

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tyler and Rachel find a new foe

Chapter 8  
Tyler quickly snapped his eyes open as he felt a hand on his shoulder. The cold-steel magnum rolled off his fingers more easily than he would’ve liked, the barrel pressing against the stomach of his attacker. The only problem was that his attacker wasn’t an attacker, she was a hugger. As soon as he realized the warm intent of the girl he let the gun slip off of him and onto the floor.  
“Thanks for not shooting me.” Rachel said as she sat over him, smiling warmly. Her arms dove onto him in a long embrace.  
“I wouldn’t have shot you, you just really scared the shi-” Tyler’s words were completely cut off by her lips caressing his as she pressed him back down on the bed. Her hands rapidly grabbed at the back of his neck and ran through his hair like she finally had something she had been missing. He leaned up into the kiss to meet her beautiful lips, just as the hidden back door was slammed open.  
As soon as the man made it through the door he already had a magnum and a 10mm pistol trained on him. He spied the guns and the lovers, stopping dead in his tracks. His face soon curled into a smile as he recognized the two.  
“Not interrupting anything am I?” Six laughed out as he stood watching the sight of two people laying on top of one another, both holding a weapon at attention.  
Rachel quickly jumped off of her love as she dropped the weapon back into it’s boot holster. Rapidly, she pulled her mask up to hide her embarrassment from the current situation.   
“Could’ve knocked first you know…” she countered, standing up and heading to the fridge to look for something to eat.   
“You sure he’s healthy enough for sex?” Six gave a small laugh to his own joke, “Might give him a heart attack.” He gave a small discreet wink to Tyler and then turned his attention back to Rachel.  
“I wasn’t going to do that…” she barked, throwing her middle finger into the air. She pulled a fresh Nuka-Cola from the fridge and tossed it to Tyler.   
“Yeah! Why are you even here Six?” Tyler yelled, his temper obviously raising as he took a drink from the bottle he had generously been given.   
“Woah, woah, woah guys. Calm down. I was just joking. I’m not going to judge what a man and his wife do when they are alone…” his smirk disappeared as he tried to seem more sincere than he originally came off as.  
“Goddamnit Six! What the hell are you doing?!” Rachel’s eyes were flaming as she jumped, grabbed the man’s collar, and yanked him out the door. She slammed the door behind them, shaking the whole house.   
Tyler laid there for a second, completely perplexed at what was going on, when he heard the sound of the door opening. He looked over but the back door hadn’t even budged. It was the front door. Tyler jumped up to make his way to the front of the building; he rushed so quickly to the counter that he didn’t see the man holding the nightstick around the corner.   
Before he could react the nightstick came smashing down on Tyler’s head, knocking him to the ground. The blow left Tyler’s vision blurry but he kicked his legs out furiously, trying to incapacitate his attacker. None of his kicks connected and the attacker came down with a second blow to his rib cage, sending him reeling again. Tyler coughed and tried to crawl towards what he thought was his revolver on the ground, just as he felt a boot come crashing down on his spine. He continued to scurry across the floor, although much slower now, seeking the revolver. Finally, his hand met the familiar steel of the magnum; Tyler rolled over and pointed the weapon at the attacker and pulled the trigger. The attacker smiled as he saw the hammer of the revolver fall and no projectile follow. Tyler realized his mistake, he had not unjammed the gun after his encounter with the Omertas.  
The man smacked the pistol away from Tyler’s grasp, then struck him in the face once more with the stick. Tyler was sent spinning from the blow. He knew that another blow like that would surely end him, he also knew that Rachel was his only way out this time. Desperately Tyler went for his gun again but this time he didn’t try to shoot the stranger; instead, he threw the magnum towards the frag mine. He heard the tink of the pistol striking something metal and he prayed it was the mine. Suddenly an explosion rang out . The man looked back at where the mine went off and then turned his attention back to Tyler, smiling. He raised his nightstick up for the final blow just as the door opened.  
“Tyler?” Rachel called his name as she looked around, eventually finding the gruesome fight in front of the doorway. “Tyler!?” she slowly laid her flaming eyes on the attacker, “I’m gonna kill you, you bastard!” Rachel set out in a full sprint towards the man, ducking under his desperate attempt to hit her, and she slammed into his abdomen. The man let out a groan of pain as she reared her fist back and punched him furiously. Rachel stood up and grabbed her shotgun; she placed the barrel above him and rapidly pulled the trigger twice in succession. The gun dropped to the floor and she ran and slid across the floor to her dying lover.  
“Tyler...please be here…” she choked out while trying to hold back her tears about how bad his injuries really were. She sat beside him and laid his head on her shoulder. He slowly and painfully smiled at her before coughing up an alarming amount of blood. His eyes began to slowly close as she tightened around him.  
“I can’t lose you again! Baby please...Please don’t leave me again.” Rachel curled his head on her arm and dug her tear stained face into his neck. “Please Tyler...I love you so much…” her eyes widened as she thought of a last-ditch effort to save him. Quickly she dug in her pack and pulled out the device. Rachel slammed the needle into his chest and pushed the plunger of the Super Stimpak.  
Rachel laid there holding him hoping for the drugs to kick in, but it didn’t seem to be working. Finally, after some time, he slowly opened his eyes and wiped the tears from her beautiful green eyes.  
“I...love you too…” he didn’t understand where this woman knew him from, but he was convinced that they did, in fact, love each other. He pressed his lips against hers and kissed her in, what seemed like, the kiss of life.


	9. Vikki and Vance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing much happens :/

Chapter 9  
Rachel laid there holding her lover for quite some time before deciding he was stable enough to survive while she looked for the townsfolk, who could possibly provide some medicinal care. She slowly laid his head down on the bed and rose to her feet, silently padding towards the door.   
“Where do you think you’re going?” Tyler asked, obviously being much more conscious than Rachel had assumed. He shakily rose up to a sitting position, rubbing his head and staring his blue questioning eyes in her direction.  
“I’m going to go try and find a doctor or at least something I can use to treat your wounds.” she said warmly and slightly nervously, trying to keep him from following her.   
“I’m not going to let you go alone. It’s dangerous out there Rachel,” Tyler commanded as he stood up from the bed and reeled from the dizziness of his crippled head. He quickly made his way to her and put his hand on her shoulder, before leaning over and taking her 10mm that was still strapped to her leg. Tyler pulled the receiver of the pistol back and let it snap forward, chambering his first round.  
“If you really insist on going then just stay behind me and close to me. I can’t have you going and getting yourself killed like a moron.” Rachel placed a quick kiss on his cheek before opening the large destroyed door that led to the street in front. The two rushed out the door silently, but quickly stopped as they saw the convicts that were guarding the street the day before.  
“You rush the first one and knock him out of the game; I’ll shoot the other.” Tyler explained as he pointed the gun at the duo. Rachel nodded and started off toward the man on the far right. As soon as she drew near the convict heard her movement and turned to investigate. Unluckily for the man, as he turned, he saw a beautiful young woman in a grisly situation. He almost realized what was happening before the knife dug into his stomach. He groaned in pain as the woman twisted, sending the knife driving and cutting his internal organs, killing him quickly.   
“Jonah?!” this came from the second as he turned to see his friend going down, Rachel decimating his life in instants. The man readied his Varmint rifle and aimed down the sights just as a sharp pain cleared his shoulder, dropping him to his knees. He dropped the rifle and grabbed his shoulder, yelling for mercy. By this time Rachel had worked her way up to him.  
“Where are the people that live here?” Rachel yelled in his face, which beckoned no answer. “If you don’t tell me then you’ll be hurting a lot more than you are now!” Rachel dropped a quick fist into the man’s nose, unleashing blood down his face.   
“Okay okay! Shit!” he grasped his nose in pain before continuing, “They’re holed up in the casino from us, we were ordered to fire on anyone that we saw.” Rachel dropped the hold she had on his shirt collar, letting his head bounce down against the concrete. She rose above him and began to walk off towards the casino in question.  
“You’ve got some great interrogating techniques there, sugar tits!” the convict shot out. She continued walking towards the old concrete building unfazed, until she heard two shots ring out around her. Rachel spun around to see Tyler standing over the body of the questioned man, his gun still pointed at the man’s head. He walked away from the corpse to be side-by-side with Rachel.  
“If he wouldn’t have opened his ugly mouth then he wouldn’t have choked on a stray bullet...” Tyler spat out before opening the old door and waving for her to enter.  
Tyler and Rachel entered the Vikki and Vance casino and were immediately greeted by four or five guns turning their way. Suddenly a man that Tyler hadn’t noticed began to speak, giving him a slight fright.  
“The name’s Johnson Nash, welcome to Primm.” Nash waved down the guns pointed at them and slowly extended his brown hand out to Tyler. Rachel walked away towards a nearby bench while Johnson and Tyler spoke briefly. Johnson told him about Primm’s current predicament about being pinned in by the escaped convicts. Tyler informed Nash about how he had already become quite acquainted with them.  
After the two talked for awhile Tyler slowly made his way to Rachel’s side, sitting down beside her and planting one of his large hands on her leg. She looked up and smiled warmly at him through her very concentrated thoughts. He leaned back in the chair and put his arm around her, smiling.  
“You’re such a dork…” she said tiredly as she laid her head on his shoulder and slightly leaned her whole body against his.  
“I know I am; I also know that you love it,” Tyler countered, lay his head on top of hers. She nodded quickly and kissed his cheek again. They both sat there for some time before Rachel fell asleep. He tried desperately not to wake her, she had had an extremely stressful day after all. She almost lost the love of her life and also stabbed a man to death.   
He eventually woke her up and showed her that he had acquired a box Fancy Lad Snack Cakes. Rachel awoke and quickly grabbed the box and dug in. She left a couple small cakes for Tyler to finish off and laid herself back down on him.   
“Thanks for feeding me baby, I was so hungry that I didn’t even notice it... I love you so much Ty Ty,” she adjusted herself and stretched out on the bench, laying her head in his lap and letting her feet hang off the far edge of the hard wood chair. She drifted slowly to sleep as Tyler brushed through her hair and told her everything would be okay. The only problem? He didn’t know if everything would actually be okay...


	10. The Blind One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deathclaws?

Chapter 10  
Rachel made sure she woke up before everyone else, looking around cautiously as she laced up her black leather combat boots. Silently, she rose to her feet and gently nudged her long-lost lover, kissing his forehead.  
Tyler opened his tired eyes, blinking a couple times to reassure his vision was correct. He quickly spied the woman standing in front of him. “Funny, I was just dreaming about you…” The laughter almost exploded out of him as he analyzed his own joke.  
She quickly slapped a cupped hand over his mouth and pressed her finger to her lips. “Shush...We need to be quiet, these people were going to ask us to help clear out the hotel of the convicts before we left. We need to get going,” she whispered to him.  
Tyler knew deep down that he should help these people, but he and his companion had both been through hell the past few days and he didn’t know if they’d make it out of the hotel alive. “I know what you mean. Okay. Let’s go before they wake up.” The two crept to the door and opened it quietly. They slipped out the casino like ghosts to a wall.   
The streets looked so much like an actual town that you might forget that everything around it was a barren wasteland of sand and nuclear irradiated craters. The cracks in the street looked like a giant had walked through, dragging his giant axe behind him. Off to the far north, if you looked hard enough, you could see the tip of the Lucky 38 casino tower in New Vegas. It rose into the sky as if a beacon of hope for everyone that was secretly an insidious invitation to death and poverty. After your eyes went from the tower they would travel to the sky. The sky. The sky was the one pretty thing left on what seemed like the entire Earth. It was still pretty and, without people being there to contribute their part to humanities pollution, you could see all the night stars.  
The duo snuck under the old roller coaster at the back of town, behind the hotel. They continued through the rocky, hard sand, running quickly. Eventually, they came to a gigantic crack in the surrounding mountains of Primm. The wall held an odd color that didn’t seem to match the rest of rocky walls. They were covered in scratches.  
“Are you sure about this, Rachel?” Tyler asked, his voice shaking nervously as he rethought the decision to take the hole in the rock. “I mean, where does it even go? What made the scratches?”  
“Hush baby, just calm down,” she said very warmly but as forcibly as she could, “I’m sure of this, there is an old Deathclaw that lives here but-”  
“A Deathclaw?! Are you serious right now? That thing will tear us to pieces without even a second thought!” Tyler ran his hand through his hair, pacing nervously.  
Rachel placed her hand on his shoulder aggressively, stopping him. She looked into his eyes deeply, trying to calm him down. “Listen Ty, the Deathclaw is blind. We’ll be fine, just trust me. I’ll never steer you wrong, baby.” she grabbed his jacket pocket and pulled him close, “You haven’t even hugged me yet today…”  
He swiftly wrapped his large arms around her, caressing her head as he quickly melted in her arms. When she looked up at him, he placed a long kiss on her beautiful lips. Becoming engaged in the kiss, Tyler pulled her into him as much as he could. He trusted her, no matter what happened. He had faith in this woman.  
She locked her hand around his wrist and slowly crawled through the short, narrow crack. Rachel stood up, brushing the sand from her trousers, and turned to help Tyler up. Once the two had acquired their bearings, they continued down the path towards Novac, avoiding rocks that could cause noise enough to wake the Deathclaw. There was a sharp curve around the wall of the pass and, lying on the ground, there was a body.   
Tyler walked over and crouched beside the corpse. He went to roll it over so he could identify the faction of the deceased, but as the body came around the head did not. Tyler shuffled backwards to get away from the decapitated body, but as he did so he slammed back against a peculiarly perched small boulder. The rock fell over-top of Tyler and crashed against the wall of the pass, sending out a very loud clamor. “Oh shit…” he let out. Soon, the rock’s hubbub was matched by an equally deafening roar.   
Rachel quickly checked and readied her shotgun, “Get ready Ty, something very bad is coming our way. No matter what you do, stay out of the way of those claws…”  
Tyler answered her orders by running straight at her. “Rachel get down!” he shouted as he dove into her, sending them both rolling. He got to his feet just to see the Deathclaw’s strike finishing behind and above them.   
The Blind turned and heard them moving behind him. That was the first time he had ever missed a strike on a human. Sure, sometimes a Molerat running quickly near the ground could be missed, but how did he miss a human?   
“Ty, run!”  
Both of the humans listened to the order, although it came from one of them. They sprinted, side-by-side the sand flying around them, to try and get away from the Deathclaw that was sure to not miss again. It was gaining on them briskly, a few more lunges and he would be on top of them and they would surely be dead. It didn’t help their chances when one of them tripped…  
Rachel was sent flailing end-over-end from tripping on part of the body of a freshly killed prospector. She finally came to a stop on her back in the sand, the Deathclaw suddenly applying the brakes to stop near her. Tyler looked back as he ran to see the Blind One walking towards his lover. As he watched helplessly, he had an idea.  
The sand hurt his legs as he slid to Rachel’s side. He quickly dug in her survival pack and pulled out a spherical object. The pistol in Rachel’s boot was removed briskly. Tyler shot the pistol into the Deathclaw’s head, provoking a quick attack. Although, this time, the claw did connect with something. It wasn’t flesh. It was a metallic object. It was a live grenade that Tyler had thrown up after he shot. The Blind One continued to strike the air above the grenade as he heard it roll around in the sand in front of him.  
Tyler and Rachel had easily cleared the passage to Novac before they heard the explosion from the 10-second timer grenade. They turned around just in time to see the exit of the crack collapse from the inside. He may not have killed the Blind One, but it was sure as hell trapped inside.  
Tyler put his arm around her and she leaned on him to walk with her injured ankle. She limped slightly, but the adrenaline from the situation brought more of a smile than a look of pain to her face. They walked their way to a small clinic based out of a tent, right inside the center of Novac.   
He sat Rachel down on a bed inside the tent and walked outside to talk to the woman standing near a fire, warming herself.  
“Is there a doctor here? My friend in there hurt her ankle pretty badly…” he explained, beginning to warm himself with the raging fire in front of him.  
“Yes there is, and you’re looking at her. Name’s Ada. Ada Straus. I’ll go have a look at her.” she quickly turned and went into the tent before he could thank her.  
Tyler walked towards the old motel and entered the main office, feeling the effects and tiredness from his head injury. He stumbled to the counter and quickly regained his composure. “Got any rooms for rent? I really need one. I’m tired.”  
“Yes we have one. You really don’t look good. Here,” she slid a key to a room across the counter, “free of charge for tonight, honey.”  
“Thanks so much ma’am. Be seeing ya.” he started to walk out the door.  
“Don’t be a stranger, dear”  
He just walked out and stumbled across the road to pick Rachel up. Ada told him he should stay for a check-up, but he ignored her and decided to go up to their room with Rachel.  
They opened the door to their old, smelly, dusty room and immediately got excited over the bed that was in front of them. A real bed. Tyler sat laid her down on the mattress and scooted up behind her. He put his arms around her and hugged her tightly against his body.  
Rachel rubbed her hand over his face and gave him a long, passionate kiss before closing her eyes and drifting to sleep beside her most beloved person.


	11. The Orchestra

Chapter 11  
The sound of the fast-firing knocks at the door sent the two sleeping companions fumbling for their weapons. Rachel acquired hers first, clicking the safety off the large, odd looking 12.7mm pistol. She readied her nimble fingers on the trigger, ready for the impulse from the brain that would end a life swiftly and without remorse.  
Tyler, on the other hand, was still trying to get his revolver unfastened from the hook of string that was wrapped around the hammer. He eventually cut his losses and returned from his side with the nightstick that he had previously been beaten with, choking on a deep feeling as he saw the mixture of his and the attacker’s dried blood on the end of the black wooden club. He lifted himself from the bed and positioned himself, stealthily, behind the door.  
Another knock ran through the room; however, this time it was followed by a voice.  
“Hello? Surely you two aren’t still sleeping…”  
Tyler yanked the door open, revealing the old, wrinkly face of the innkeeper. She quickly jumped with a start and backed up at the sight of the weapons.  
“Oh I didn’t mean to startle you two! I’m so very sorry!”  
The two sighed heavily and put their weapons back where they belonged. Rachel motioned her inside and laid back on the bed, relaxing. Tyler joined her on the bed, leaning against the headboard.  
“I was just coming to check on you. The doc outside told me that she had been hurt quite a bit, and I was already worried about you, boy.” She held out her hand. “I’m Jeannie May-Crawford by the way. Very pleased to make your acquaintances.”  
Tyler put out his hand and grasped the old woman’s firmly. “I’m Tyler and this,” he motioned to the woman on the bed, “is Rachel.” He rubbed his right eye, the area under which he had received his clubbing. It hurt like hell. He felt like his eye had been impaled by a railroad spike. It hurt all the way back to the deep insides of his head, leaving a fine trail of fire up to his temple. He was soon brought back to reality.  
“Are you quite alright? You really ought to get checked out by Ada…” she began as her voice trailed off, obviously worried about other things. She quickly moved towards the door. “I just remembered something I have to attend to. I’ll let you two get back to it. Nice meeting you.”  
Tyler closed the door behind her, and Rachel raised an eyebrow as she heard Crawford trot down the old, creaky stairs. The woman on the bed motioned for her lover to come to her. She waved her hand towards herself and held out her hands.  
“Ty…”  
“Yes, Rachel?”  
“Why are you calling me that now?”  
“What?”  
“You used to call me baby…”  
“I’m sorry...but I can’t remember all of that,” he paused, “at least not yet.”  
“It’s okay babe,” she nodded her head, understanding, “Are you feeling okay?”  
“Yeah I am,” he lied, the pain coursing through his brain at the thought of it.  
“That’s good…” she said, sensing the lie. “Just promise you won’t leave me again.”  
“You’re okay too, right?”  
“Yeah. Thanks to you,” she lightly nudged his neck with her lips, smiling widely.  
“Just some of my quick thinking skills,” he joked, feeling her heat running up his neck, and slowly diminishing his pain substantially.  
“Hey, Ty?”  
“Yeah, Ra… baby?”  
“When was the last time you remember having sex?”  
“What…?” his question wasn’t from not hearing, he was just in shock, “I don’t remember the last time. Why?”  
“I...uh...was just wondering.” her face lit up red, obviously embarrassed.  
“Well...okay…” Tyler let the question sink in, he knew what she wanted. He wanted it too. The past events had just kept him from realizing it. Shifting, he slid down to her neck and very gently nudged it with his closed mouth. He slowly kissed her neck in long kisses trailing up from the base of her neck to her chin. Each one increasing her desire for him more and more.  
“Hey baby girl?”  
“What Ty?” she said shyly.  
“No sex yet, okay? I’m just not ready yet…”  
“It’s okay babe. I understand what you mean."  
Rachel sunk low into the bed, becoming overtaken by drowsiness. Tyler laid in front of her, staring deeply into her eyes every time they opened and met his. He smiled wearily and let out a deep sigh. Curling his arm behind his partner’s head, he gently kissed her lips passionately and brought her bottom lip out with him before letting it slip back. Feeling the weariness of his own self he decided to wish her goodnight.  
“Goodnight baby girl,” he smiled again and closed his eyes, curling up and cuddling her small figure, “I love you so much.”  
“I love you too, Ty,” she worked out before her eyes closed for the last time at the tempting of a midday nap.


	12. Date with Death and the Devil

Tyler walked down the hallway, his blood-spattered shoes pressing softly into the crimson red carpet.The carpet absorbed his feet, leaving a footprint after every step. Soon, he noticed a second pair of tracks following beside him, they were much smaller than his large, size 14 shoes. The ghost was following him. Racing him. Tyler increased his speed as the feet began to pass him. He couldn’t figure out why he wanted to win the race, but he wanted it more than anything he had ever desired.  
As soon as he began to start his sprint, he ran stone-faced into an old wooden door. The door was of a weak wood that splintered into a million pieces as he touched it. It disintegrated at his touch, leaving him to fall into the open abyss behind it.   
Tyler flailed his arms about as he was pitched into the empty pit. He knew he wasn’t going to die. He was falling peacefully. Flying actually. Angling his pitch in flight, he landed on a black and white checkered linoleum floor.   
The floor supported his landing and he slid to his feet and noticed the two people in the room. Two women. Rachel was standing, staring at him. She was mouthing something; something he couldn’t make out. The second woman stood behind Rachel. The ghost he had been beaten in the race by pulled Rachel back by her hair and plunged a bright silver dagger in through her back. Screaming in silent agony, Rachel fell to the floor as the ghost disappeared.   
Tyler couldn’t move as his lover lay in anguish, yet he stayed watching, perplexed. His tears began as she was pulled back into the darkness, this time her screams reaching epic decibel levels, almost deafening him. He closed his eyes to hide himself from the darkness, just as a bright flash of white blinded him and he felt the floor rush to meet him.  
The bathroom tiles stung his hands, but he protected his nose, which would’ve been broken, from the linoleum. He opened his left eye, but his right eye wasn’t cooperating. The burning from inside his head quickly arose again, making its presence known and felt. His temple began to throb rapidly.   
Suddenly, his mouth opened without his requesting it to and the contents of his stomach were projected onto the cold floor. He pushed sideways onto the tile and laid there, unable to move. Was he dying? No, that would be too easy; the world wouldn’t let him go out already, so much stuff he hadn’t learned about his past yet. Letting out a loud groan of pain, he grabbed his stomach and curled himself into a tighter ball, and closed his eyes tight. Pressing his hand hard against his forehead, he tried to calm the monster inside his head. The pain rushed through him.  
Rachel walked through the door and yelled something incoherent at him. He looked at her, but all he could see was a brown leather blur. He heard more of her yelling but it just wouldn’t straighten up to English. Then the words formed.  
“Ty?! Ty can you hear me?!” she screamed as more things were retched from his inside. He just shook uncontrollably grabbing for his throbbing head. Trying to tell her it was going to be okay, he passed out swiftly, hitting his cheek against the floor.  
“Tyler hold on! I’m going to get Dr. Straus!” she wasted no time sprinting through the hotel room and practically clearing the stairs in a single bound.  
Luckily, the doctor was on her way to check-up on Rachel. She ran into Ada at the bottom of the stairs, right next to the admissions room.  
“Just the girl I was looking…” she started as Rachel grabbed her arm and pulled hard.  
“Doc, he’s not responding! You have to help him!”  
“Who isn’t?” Ada remembered the man had been with her the night before and his obvious pain, “Okay I’m coming, I’ll try to help him. You have to calm down though, okay?”  
“I’m trying my best. “ She led her to the door of the room. “He’s in the bathroom, he’s passed out. He keeps throwing up. Please help him, he’s all I’ve got...”  
“I will.” Ada said as she rushed to the bathroom and hurriedly rolled Tyler onto his back, and began checking his eyes and pulse.   
“Is he okay?!” Rachel burst out in shock.  
“Yes he is, but he just suffered a seizure. I’ll try and stabilize him.” She pressed her hands to Tyler’s chest and pressed hard, then lifted; again.   
Rachel almost couldn’t take it as the doctor tried and tried to get him stabilized. Was this the last time she was ever going to see him? The tears came, just as the golden-blonde hair on his head balanced around and framed his face. She noticed the blood beginning to drip out of his wound from the pipe again.   
The doctor slumped over onto the damp,cold linoleum after one final, hard press. Eyes rolling forward and opening slowly, Tyler awoke from his date with death and the devil. He put his arms behind him and propped himself up on the hard floor, letting his elbows take the strain of his strained body. The pain had slightly subsided from the previous epidemic, but he was still feeling the aftershocks.  
“Ty! Oh my god, I was so scared!” Rachel yelled as she flung herself to him in a rejoyceful embrace. The floor soon met her, as Tyler’s body could not support them both in his weakened state. She kissed his forehead and turned back to the doctor, looking at her quizzically.  
Ada nodded her head approvingly and held her hand out for information,  
“I’m glad you are back in the land of the living, buddy.” she clapped a hand on Tyler’s shoulder happily and quickly changed her tone. “You need to take some medication for this to correctly heal…” she sternly added.  
“If you have the meds for me, then I have a bag of caps on the end-table, Doc,” He sputtered at, nodding at the currency on the table.   
“That is...not needed. I’ll give the pills to you for no charge, as long as you promise not to get yourself killed and leave your girly here all alone.” Ada ended her sentence with a smile and rose to her feet, with a creak in her knees.  
“It’s a deal, Doc.” Tyler shouted, as Ada began to walk out the door to get the medicine. Turning his gaze to Rachel, he asked, “Hey baby, will you help me over to the bed?”  
Rachel helped him up, supporting some of his weight on her shoulders so to give his wobbly, weak legs a break. Together, they hobbled over to the bed, one gimp-step to the next. Slowly, she laid his body down on the bed next to hers; his head rested on her chest, completely wrapped in her like a security blanket.   
“You’re heavy babe,” she joked as she sighed. He really was heavy. She was only 5’7, which didn’t make carrying a 6’2, 190 pound man any easier. When she looked down to see his reaction, she couldn’t help but smile at his reaction. He was fast asleep.  
“Don’t worry Ty Ty, I won’t let anything happen to you ever again.Now get some rest, babe. I love you so much.” she closed her eyes and let her mind slowly drift.  
“I love you too, baby.”


	13. Someone's Trying to Kill Us...

Tyler awoke with a small start from the nightmare he had just been saved from. He quickly calmed down when he noticed Rachel's small, tan hands gripped around and interdigitated in his own, large, pale palm. He searched for her large, green eyes, but was only met with her wrinkled eyelids. She had fallen asleep beside him; she didn’t leave his side. The smile crept around his cracked lips at the thought of how much she really cared about him. Maybe she was actually with him before the accident?  
The deep thoughts were cut short by the calm, striking knocks at the door. They seemed to echo around the entire room a thousand times before Tyler could finally react to them. Springs creaked and moaned as he moved off the dingy yellow mattress, making his way to the door. Tyler issued a quick kiss to Rachel’s forehead as he lumbered towards the silence-breaking sound. He stopped at the old, cheaply made, pre-war, particle-board door and let out a room-clearing sigh. The kind of sigh that if anyone had heard it, they would’ve asked him if he was okay. Was he okay?  
Knocking. What was it coming from? Oh, the door, he remembered. Why was he continuously zoning out of the real world? Tyler figured that it didn’t exactly matter right now. He wrapped his long fingers around the brass, scratched-up doorknob. He twisted. The door opened with a quiet creak and the dust from the inside of the room was illuminated by the light of outside. A woman was standing in front of him. She was relatively young, maybe only 27. Her hair was pulled back tight in a bun and was tucked-up underneath her straw hat. There was a tank top around her that was almost as dingy-looking as the mattress. She was wearing a belt that held various pill bottles and had a strap that went around her shoulder to keep it up. It was the doctor.  
She reached into her belt and snatched a large pill bottle that resembled medication that Tyler had remembered taking when he was younger.  
“Here’s those meds that I promised ya.”  
“Oh…” Tyler didn’t exactly mean to even speak, but he slowly, cautiously took the bottle.  
“You need to take two of these a day. Once in the morning and once at night, before you go to sleep.” she said quietly, looking perplexed at Tyler’s actions  
“I’ll take them,” he uttered, meaning to talk this time.  
“Good. You should be good to go pretty soon. These are just for the headaches and seizures,” Ada turned to walk down the stairs, not expecting a thanks.  
“Thank you, Doc. I...We really appreciate it,”  
Ada just tipped her hat at him and continued down the stairs.  
Tyler shut the door quickly and with a slight slam. The bed creaked again, giving way to a cautious check from him. Rachel was sitting up on the bed, smiling, her back leaning against the extravagant, hardwood headboard. He was about to say something but his voice was cut short by the flash of green light, as her eyes flicked open to meet his. This, the eyes, he could remember from long before.  
“Good morning, Babe,” she called out as she watched him standing, dumbfoundedly. Quickly, she let out a quiet snort at his empty glare at her. Rachel slowly stood up and walked over to the taller man. She poked a finger against the tip of his wrinkled nose.   
He let out a quick laugh.  
“Morning,” he sputtered out, trying to not laugh at the finger that was still pressed against him from down below.  
“Did you sleep okay?”  
“Yeah actually, but I think it’s just because I was with you.”  
“Oh, what’s so special about me, huh?” she pressed her hand against her upper chest and rolled her eyes dramatically.  
“Well, other than the fact that you’ve saved my life three times? How beautiful you are…”  
“Oh...oh,” she gulped out as she covered her face and tried not to blush.  
“I’m serious, you are very pretty,” he uttered as he smirked at his own charm.  
“Ty, stoppp…” she said, trying to hold back her awkwardness and blushing.  
“Sorry, Baby. I just…” he started, but the knocking at the door drowned out his voice.  
“What could she want again?”  
Tyler walked swiftly to the door and propped it open with his foot, giving a disappointed look at the intruder. Ada stood, saying nothing.  
“What do ya need, Doc?” he spat out, looking her up and down again. There was something off about her this time, but he couldn’t quite put his finger on it. What was different? Same hat, same hair, same shoulder strap. Oh but there was a difference! The bullet wound had not been there before.   
Tyler did not realize the bloody wound, until Ada fell on top of him, pinning him to the floor. He heard footsteps around him and nothing was even able to take place before he let out his shout,  
“Rachel watch out!”  
Rachel shot backwards, pulling the large 12.7mm from her boot and flipped the safety. The first shot that she squeezed off struck the wall beside the taller of the three men. The intruders jumped at the sound of the gunfire; they all, simultaneously, pulled .44 magnums from their overcoats and began popping off shots towards Rachel. She dove with a thud into the bathroom and readied her pistol for when they decided to follow her.  
Rolling the body slowly off of him, Tyler recoiled to a crouching position. The men had passed him, and now he was behind them; he could easily get the jump on them, but how would he take out three armed men by himself? It didn’t matter. Rachel was in that bathroom, and without him, she’d be dead. He was going to save her. The black, wooden club felt oddly comfortable in his hands as he grabbed it from right behind the door. Lifting his arm for a quick attack, he came up with a gameplan.  
“Come out with yer’ hands up and we’ll end ya nice n’quickly.” the one in the front yelled out, followed by a hearty laugh. The laugh and the thought of him thinking he could hurt Rachel so easily made Tyler’s blood boil.  
The club had almost no recoil on it as it slammed down on the skinny man in the back’s head. Tyler smiled as he felt the skull collapse under his force, the rage was taking him over. They would not hurt her, as long as he was there. Tyler hooked the man under his arms as he fell, propping the body up in front of him as he walked. The man’s .44 felt heavy and uncomfortable in Tyler’s hands.   
The interlopers were almost to the bathroom door when the shout rang out behind them,  
“Hey dumbasses!”  
The two men turned quickly with very confused looks on their faces. The man that had spoke and laughed was short, maybe only 5’5. He was also quite stout, with his suit pushing out on all sides from his hefty, round shape. The other man was quite the opposite, he was actually skinny. He was tall, probably as tall as Tyler, but only half the girth.   
The tall and skinny one fired a bullet into the body that Tyler was holding, which luckily absorbed it. Tyler squeezed off his own shot, which jerked his hand back from the recoil. The bullet entered the frontal lobe of the skinny man’s brain and punched a large hole through the back of his head, sending blood and brain spraying onto the wall behind him. His body dropped to the floor with a sickening thud.  
Tyler was sent backwards as the shotgun blast went in the body of the man that he was holding. The fat man had been holding a double barrel shotgun, not a revolver, and had shot off both shots with one pull of the trigger. Fats walked over Tyler’s crumpled body and readied his shotgun again, pointing it at his head. The man pulled the trigger, but of course, both shots had been used. Tyler smirked at the fat intruder and pulled the .44 and aimed it straight back at his large face.  
“I got this,” Rachel blurted out as she slammed the grip of her pistol into the back of the intruder’s head, knocking him unconscious. She helped Tyler up and kissed him amorously, but quickly.  
“Why didn’t you kill him?” Tyler asked, confused.  
“It’s best to send a message to whoever did this,”  
“Oh, well they sure will get this message,” he said as he looked to the door, “Poor Ada…”  
“It’s okay Ty, it wasn’t your fault.”  
“I know, but I just feel so bad for her,”  
“I understand, Babe, I feel bad too, but we have to leave.”  
“Okay, Baby. I’ll go grab our things.”  
“Good. We need to get the hell away from here. Someone’s trying to kill us…”


	14. We Should Just Kiss

Adjusting the survival pack that he had bought at the gift shop in Novac, Tyler tucked his newly repaired .357 into the holder on the side. As he took his careful steps down the off-ramp on the north side of town, he gave a quick salute and smile to the sniper in the dino tower.   
“Thanks for not shooting us,” he muttered under his breath, grabbing for the canteen of water clipped on his pack, and unscrewing the lid.  
“Did you say something, Ty?” Rachel questioned, as she stole the water from him and took a large gulp,before returning it to him and smiling widely and jokingly at what she’d done.  
Tyler laughed at her, as it helped to alleviate the pain of the recent events.  
“I said nothing!” He yelled, goofily. Planting a quick kiss on her cheek, he turned and took the canteen back with his red, sun-burnt hands. Tyler took a large drink to satisfy his thirst and then put the holder back in its place; he began to walk a little ahead of the girl.  
Smiling, Rachel looked at the figure of the man in front of her. No. Not THE man, HER man. He was her possession. She realized that he may not truly remember his past, but she was very determined to remind him of the amazing times they had had. The way he walked, the long, wildly placed strides, how he swung his arms side-to-side, the way his big hands were slumped in the air, his non-existent ass that she had always jokingly made fun of him for, his huge feet that slapped the earth, the way his medium length, blonde hair was swooshed and messed up by the wind, she admitted it, she admired everything about him; most of all, she admitted that she had been dead inside without him. But he was back,and so was her sanity. The walking just seemed to drag on and on.  
She was soon brought to reality as Tyler began to yell at her in excitement; his voice pitch when he was excited was another thing she missed. But what was he yelling about? The ground didn’t seem to even touch her as she floated over to him. His smile was invigorating, transferring energy to any onlooker lucky enough to see it, and, soon enough, the onlooker would be filled with the same tremendous excitement that Tyler, himself, possessed.   
The only sight in the area was a lonely drifter that was sitting on an old log next to an old, forgotten billboard. She looked closer, but nonetheless, she didn’t manage to spy anything worthy of Tyler’s invigorous excitement. Then she saw it. The drifter was holding, and simultaneously strumming, an old, faded, black hickory guitar.  
The instrument was humming happily into, and vibrating inside, Tyler’s ear. The excitement that the guitar brought him was almost palpable in the air as he quickly wandered, curiously, towards it. When Tyler was close enough to feel the reverberations of the chords, his heart skipped a beat. Music. He had not realized how much he missed it, the sweet melody flowing through his heart.   
He made his way to the drifter and began to converse with him. The two began intently talking, and eventually the drifter was convinced to continue on his quest for vengeance, or possibly retribution, and he left his only prized possession to the person who helped him decide his fate. Tyler vowed to take good care of the beautiful instrument, and eventually learn to play it to bring happiness to others. And with that, the driftor departed.

 

Night soon approached the small campsite as the Tyler and Rachel rested, tired from the long walk of the day. Tyler sat down in the dirt and laid his head down on a rolled up sleeping bag that had emerged from his backpack. His previous energy began to dissipate very quickly, and he soon began to feel tired. Grabbing her warm, smooth, soft hand, Tyler squeezed and whispered nonsense to himself. As soon as he began to fall asleep Rachel withdrew her hand and took it away. Tyler turned to look at her with a very dissatisfied look, but soon realized her intent. She was holding the guitar and her hands began to glide over the strings, playing angelic-like chords. Tyler smiled widely and then fell silent as she began to sing.  
“I had a thought, dear  
However scary  
About that night  
The bugs and the dirt  
Why were you digging?  
What did you bury  
Before those hands pulled me  
From the earth?

I will not ask you where you came from  
I will not ask and neither should you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips  
We should just kiss like real people do

I knew that look dear  
Eyes always seeking  
Was there in someone  
That dug long ago  
So I will not ask you  
Why you were creeping  
In some sad way I already know

So I will not ask you where you came from  
I would not ask and neither would you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips  
We should just kiss like real people do

I could not ask you where you came from  
I could not ask and neither could you

Honey just put your sweet lips on my lips  
We could just kiss like real people do”

When she finally finished the song and guitar routine, she looked down at her lover, who was curled up asleep at her feet. She thought to herself about how cute he looked, but something deep and sad quickly welled up inside her. He didn’t realize the meaning of what she had sang and played. Setting the stringed instrument at her feet, she slid down to be beside him and curled around his back side. She put her short arms around him and buried her face into the crook of his neck; she began to weep. In that instant, she didn’t think that he’d ever remember why she was there or who she was to him. It could never be the same again and she knew it. As she began to drift off to sleep, Tyler turned his head to face her and looked deep into her eyes.   
“Don’t worry, I’ll remember it all eventually. Until then, we should just kiss, you know, like real people d-” his words would cut off instantaneously by her lips passionately caressing his.  
“Goodnight Ty, I love you, okay?”  
“I love you too, goodnight. And thank you...for everything.”  
Rachel just nodded sincerely and laid her head down on his shoulder, closing her eyes for the night. Finally happy.


	15. Torture My Heart

Rachel slowly blinked as she awoke, squinting to see beyond the hot, bright sun. She smiled widely about the fact that she was once again with her lover in the land of the living, but the smile soon faded to darkness. Where was Tyler? Jumping to her feet, Rachel turned circles looking for the young man, with whom she’d just spent the night with. As she circled the area, she began to call his name, desperately trying to find the boy.   
Soon a sudden pain dropped her to her knees. The surge brought her whole body to the dirt, as her knee gave out. She looked down with what strength she had, only to see an arrow sticking through her calf. A perfect shot, straight through the muscle. Just enough to incapacitate her.  
Looking up to see where the arrow had come from, she winced in pain as a second arrow penetrated her left shoulder blade. The ground met her with great force and a long, dark shadow overcame her body.   
“W-wait…” she started, but was cut off as a boot connected with her jaw.

 

Rachel was suddenly awoken by a man shaking her as she sat, strapped to a chair. The man yanked the bag off of her head and quickly got in her face. He was just standing there, staring, breathing. His breath was absolutely putrid and the stench caused Rachel to desperately hold back her retching.  
The man quickly sensed her disgust and backhanded her across her beautiful face, sending her spit flying across the room. Her eyes became furious,but he matched them with his own, red, angry, burning eyes. His long black hair shrouded his large beard, but she could still make out who he was. The fat man from the hotel. He began shouting more random nonsense at Rachel, but she could not comprehend a word of what he was saying, at least not until they brought the prisoner out.  
A big musclehead of a man brought a man in a sack hood out and forced him to kneel on the floor. Before they even removed the hood from his head, the feeling deep in the pit of her stomach told her who it was; nonetheless, when the hood was removed and the blonde locks of hair, that were stuck together by fresh blood, flowed out, her heart sank.   
Rachel could tell that Tyler had been beaten very badly. There were bruises lining up and down his face, covering all of his most distinctive facial features; the blood running out of his nose and lips covered his face as well. They had had him for awhile. They had probably asked him rubbish questions and beaten him to a pulp whenever he didn’t know the answer. Then the realization hit her. This was her fault. She was the one that knew why they were here; Tyler couldn’t remember anything before he was shot and clubbed. He was beaten because he truly didn’t know the answers.   
She couldn’t help herself from lunging at the fat man, tears in her eyes.  
“Stop it! Stop it, now! He doesn’t know anything, I was the one that brought him on the mission!”  
“Is that so, lassy?” He took a breath to punch Tyler in the gut once more, sending Tyler to the ground, doubled-up in pain. “So then, how’s about you tell us what ya know?”  
“I swear that I don’t know anything about the mission, other than that they sent me to get him since I’m his wife. Please, believe me!” She uttered, desperate.  
“Well that’s just not good enough for us...or him,” he stood and walked over to Tyler, placing a swift kick into the prisoner’s abdomen and then stomping on his, obviously, already broken leg.  
Tyler screamed as his bone snapped and he wriggled on the floor the best he could to get away. The bone now visibly protruding from his knee.  
“Rachel. Help me, please…” he muttered, in severe pain.  
“Well if you ain’t tellin’ us shit then I guess we are done here….sorry, Love, nothin’ personal,” the large man stood above Tyler, revealing a small-caliber pistol. He hovered the pistol above Tyler’s chest.   
“Baby, don’t watch. It’ll be okay…I love you,” Tyler mumbled to her, staring at her in his last few moments. The man cracked a smile at Rachel before pulling the trigger.  
The trigger pulled back, the hammer came down, the bullet fired off, the slide came back on the gun, the muzzle exploded with light, and most importantly, the bullet entered Tyler’s chest cavity. The bullet struck right below his collarbone, striking his heart and leaving him a motionless, curled, broken body on the floor.   
“No! NO! Tyler! Please god no! You bastard!” Rachel let out, bawling and slobbering, trying desperately to escape from the chair.  
“Sorry, Girly...oh wait…no, I’m not.” He pressed the pistol into her stomach and squeezed off two more rounds. Her vision trailed off, all sounds faded, her senses began to fail, and then, finally, her eyes closed…  
“Time to wake up now…” he muttered, smiling


	16. On the Fence

He got very close to her before her eyes had completely adjusted. Who was getting near her? How had she survived? All her thoughts and desperations were quelled as the lips brushed across her forehead. Familiar lips. His lips. He took her hand and held it within his own, sliding down to lay beside her. Soon, Tyler noticed the tears in her eyes and couldn’t control his protective instincts.  
“Hey. Hey, Baby?” He brushed his thumb over her cheek as he held her face in his palm. “Are you okay?”  
She noticed the outstanding concern within his eyes at that moment, eyes she had known all her life, he truly cared and was worried about her. Curling up closer to him, she was only seeking comfort in the fact that he was alive.  
“It’s nothing, Ty, just a bad dream.” She shivered, causing him to put his arm around her. “Just hold me for a second, okay?”  
“Sounds like quite a dream there, if it got you all shaken up like that. Well, luckily for you, I’m here to save the day.” He struck a momentary superhero pose and then held her close with his arm beneath her head.  
“Thank you, Ty…” she started.  
“Hey now, there’s no need for thanking me. I’m always here for you cause it’s my job!” Tyler smiled widely and cheesily. “I’ll bet I’m the only one out here who still enjoys their job...aside from serial killers.”   
“Well what about raiders?” She asked, laughing through her light tears.  
“You have a point, but there’s no way raiders enjoy their job that much, because the bandit leaders usually dispose just as many of their own guys as they do settlers. In my experience anyway.”  
“Ty, did you just remember a little bit?” Rachel asked, hopeful of his memory coming back.  
“I suppose I did, but most of everything is really fuzzy. I can only remember bits and pieces…” he said as he began to stare off into the distance.  
“It’s okay, Babe.” She patted him on the shoulder and gave him a quick, hard hug. “It’ll come back eventually.”  
“Well whether it does, or it doesn’t, I just want you to know th-” the sentence was cut off by the snapping of a nearby branch, followed by shuffling.  
Both people were raised onto their feet, guns and arms outstretched, in less than two seconds flat. Tyler’s revolver was stretched further than Rachel’s 12.7 due to his arm length. They would’ve looked terrifying, even if you weren’t staring down the double barrels like the young girl standing in front of them.  
The girl raised her hands in defeat and smiled nervously, setting down her mechanic gauntlet in the dirt.  
“Woah, woah guys. I’m not here to hurt you, I just noticed you two down here and got curious.”   
“Who are you and where are you from? And you would best explain fast, before my trigger finger gets tired…” Rachel threatened, switching the safety off her pistol.  
“Okay, okay. My name is Veronica. I’m a scavenger for my family and I was just making my way up to the old 188 Trading Post when I saw you two here. I figured I’d just see what kind of people you were. Obviously cautious and dangerous ones.”  
“Damn right,” Tyler uttered, slowly letting the hammer down on his revolver. He smiled lightly and returned the gun to its holster.He outstretched his hand to the visitor. “I’m Tyler,” he said before pointing to his lady friend, “and this here’s my girl, Rachel. Nice to meet you, Veronica.”  
“Well, thank you for the hospitality of not shooting me in the face on sight,” Veronica shook his hand and began to turn away from them, turning just her head to face the two. “I’m still going to the 188 if you two’d like to go.”  
“Won’t say no to a little trading and money…” Rachel uttered, following.

 

“I said, WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?!” Rachel yelled, slamming the trader’s head into the nearest cabinet, cracking the old, fine wood. Tyler was currently too busy, holding an armed standoff with the trader’s partner, to help.  
“I told you, I don’t know nothin’ about the Omertas! I’m just a-” he was cut off by the next uppercut coming from the small, but powerful, woman, that knocked out essentially all the teeth he had left.   
“You are a fence for the Omertas crime organization, now tell me everything you know and I won’t feed you to your own dog,” she threatened, pushing his head down right next to a dog cage that was occupied by a snarling rottweiler.   
“Okay, okay!” The fence yelled, throwing his hands up in defeat. “I’m one of their guys, but I swear, all I know is that a bunch of their guys are holed up in that cesspool, Gomorrah, in Vegas.”  
Rachel smacked him once and then yelled at him for more info.  
“I promise that the only other thing I know is that we are contacted by a woman named M-” the sentence was destroyed by the same bullet that destroyed the man’s head. Then another shot rang out, followed by a body thumping to the floor.  
Rachel threw the fence’s lifeless corpse to the ground and stood to see Tyler holding his gun, smoke emanating from it. The man he had been holding-up had shot her witness dead, just to shut him up. Rachel made her way to the man that Ty had shot, and kicked his knee, right where the bullet had entered.  
“Now you’re gonna tell me some more sh-” once again, the sentence was not finished as the man reached for his own gun and pressed it to his head.  
“Omertas!” The man screamed as he pulled the trigger, illuminating and, simultaneously, singeing his face with the muzzle flare, as the bullet ripped through his skull.  
“We should get out of here…” Tyler said as he observed the carnage of the afternoon.  
The two killers emerged from the tent that was newly set up on the overpass of highway that was the 188 Trading Post, just in time to witness the new acts of an old friend. They saw Six standing and conversing with Veronica about something that looked quite dire.  
“Hey there’s Six, maybe we should go talk to him,” Tyler started, but did not realize the futility of his words until Rachel gave him the stare of death. “Or not…”  
“We need to get to where the Omertas are hiding out before they send more men to kill us.”  
“You have a point, I’d rather stay with just as many holes as I have in me now.”  
“Okay, then it’s settled, we are going to New Vegas. It’s a straight shot from here, only about a five hour’s walk. We’ll be there in no time.”  
“Hopefully to end this crazy game…”


	17. Freeside

Tyler’s feet struck the ground with a renewed sense of meaning, as he finally knew where his enemies were at. They had taken everything away from him; his memory, his wife, his freedom, and they were still trying to take his life, but he knew, deep down, that he’d be taking theirs instead. He was not going to let anything stand in his way; their hearts would soon stop beating altogether, while his will be beating harder and faster than ever before.   
The feet under him, while tired, had been through a lot to this point. He looked down at them and they seemed to give him an even greater outlook, seemingly telling him, “We won’t stop if you don’t.” Tyler smiled at them and continued strolling happily down the old interstate, very clear on what he’d eventually be walking into. Was he crazy? Cocky? Brave? Stupid? No, he realized, he was just ready for it to be over.

Watching from a few feet back, Rachel strode worryingly behind him. She knew that they were walking into almost certain death, but she wasn’t sure if he was really ready for it. Could she really protect him in that large of a firefight? If she couldn’t, then the whole trip would’ve been for nothing. She only went on the excursion to find her lost lover and to bring him back, no matter the cost. She wasn’t losing him again.  
But that stride he had, there was something off about it. He seemed way too happy; obviously he doesn’t know what they are up against. She knew he was passionate, but this was insane. Was he crazy? Cocky? Brave? Stupid? No, she realized, he was just ready for it to be over.

There was something ahead of them in the distance; they both squinted, trying to make it out. Then Rachel realized what it was. The Freeside gate to New Vegas! She had been here a couple times, but she always went in through the east gate, never the south.  
They jogged to the gate, about to motion them open, when a stray bullet flew directly over Rachel. Tyler launched his body at her’s, and tackled her to the ground. He hugged her body tightly under his own and told her that everything would be okay.  
Tyler looked to his left and saw one of the gate-keepers strike the floor, missing the left half of his jaw. Whoever was attacking had some serious firepower. There were two men left standing, both of which Tyler could identify their affiliations by their outfits. One, wearing a leather, biker jacket with slicked back hair was a member of the Kings, which was apparent by the patch on his jacket. The second was a dark-skinned guy, wearing a suit of black combat armor. He was obviously a Van Graff thug; he was even using a signature plasma rifle.   
As Tyler watched, he saw the Kings member take a large-caliber bullet clean through his shoulder blade. The man was obviously quite tough, as the bullet didn’t even drop him to a knee. The guy held his revolver and kept firing, motioning for Rachel and Tyler to get inside. Tyler didn’t wait for the man to ask a second time; he lifted Rachel and ran through the gate. 

“You two look a little worse-for-wear,” a man said, waiting on the other side of the fence wielding a revolver, not unlike the Kings member’s. Tyler looked closer and realized that the man was, in fact, another King.   
“Your friend outside got shot in the shoulder. I think he’s okay, but he could probably use a little extra backup.” Rachel said, hopping down from Tyler’s arms.  
“Aw shit, really?” He turned and unhooked the gate, “I’m coming Tom!”  
“C’mon, Ty. We need to get out of Freeside and into Vegas.” She motioned him to her, “I know the way, just follow me.”

When they had walked a distance down the road, Tyler saw a huge sign that read, “New Vegas,” in great, large, neon letters. Around the sign was a security checkpoint ran by multiple security robots. As they got close, one robot rolled over to them. He had large, pincher -like hands, and a small video screen with the animated picture of a cop on it.  
“Please submit to a credit check for admission into New Vegas.” The robot uttered, coldly.  
“Okay, how many caps must we have?” Rachel asked.  
“You two need approximately two-thousand caps to gain entry together.”  
“Well then, here ya go, Robo-man,” she said as she showed her caps off to the security guard, flaunting them.  
“Scanning…” the robot shot a hologram scanner out of his eyes for a moment. “All done. Security...granted. Have a fun and safe time in New Vegas!”  
Tyler and Rachel rolled the large gate open, and what they saw, they almost couldn’t comprehend. The entire street was lit up brightly and the casinos and hotels shone their beams and signs all over the strip. It was beautiful, but there, in the distance, it was. Surrounded by fire and what seemed to be the gates of Hell themselves, Gomorrah.The end was in sight, and both heroes knew it.

**Author's Note:**

> This is just the beginning and only my second submission to AO3 so please feel free to leave constructive comments and possibly a better title.


End file.
